If you were a lot skinnier in the 80s, it might be because you were playing so much Tetris. This is according to researchers from PlymouthUniversity, whose new study – published in the journal Appetite, revealed that playing Tetris helped participants to lose weight.
The study researchers were interested in whether a demanding visual task, in this case playing the uber-addictive 80s video game Tetris would reduce cravings. Playing Tetris for three minutes lead to a self-reported reduction in immediate cravings for food and drink by around 20%. The NHS website explains, ‘A theory called elaboration intrusion theory states that imagery is important to cravings. For example, people craving caffeine have reported that they suddenly start vividly imaging the taste and smell of fresh coffee and then these mental images come to dominate their thinking…People can visualise what they crave and imagine the reward and satisfaction that giving into the craving might bring. The idea behind the research was that a task that interrupts this mental craving and imagery cycle might reduce the craving.’
For the study, 80 participants who reported craving food or drink (58), caffeine (10), or nicotine (12) were randomly assigned one of two tasks; playing Tetris for three minutes, or sitting in front of a screen that was rigged to show a slowly progressing “loading” bar that eventually led to a message of “Load Error” (three minutes in total). Before and after each task, the researchers measured their cravings using a single scale from one (not craving at all) to 100 (craving something very much). Before the tasks, there was no real difference between the average craving scores of the two groups (58.82 and 57.90 for the Tetris and loading screen group , respectively). However, after the tasks, craving reduced to 44.84 in the Tetris group (a 23.8% reduction) compared to 54.74 in the Load group (a 5.5 % reduction).
The researchers noted, ‘The findings support EI [elaboration intrusion] theory, showing that a visuospatial working memory load reduces naturally occurring cravings, and that Tetris might be a useful task for tackling cravings outside the laboratory.’ So there may be a visual element to cravings, but this leaves many questions to be answered. For example, was it Tetris specifically that reduced cravings, or could any mildly involved task, such as a crossword or reading a magazine, equally distract people from their cravings in the same way? Moreover, the amount of people who craved nicotine and caffeine was so small that it’s hard to generalise the results for these specific cravings. Plus, the participants were largely young adult women, and so the results in older people, who may be less willing and interested in playing Tetris, were also not assessed and may be different.
As the NHS warns, ‘The study did not investigate the link between the cravings and behaviour. For instance, did a reduction in food cravings actually lead to reductions in binge eating or any weight loss? It was also not clear how valid and reliable the one to 100 scale the researchers used to assess cravings was, as well as the other more sophisticated additional questionnaires they used. Error in the measurement of craving would likely bias the results, but it is not clear in what direction. The many questions and limitations to this research outlined above mean we should not jump to any rash conclusions about whether playing Tetris would help people lose weight or stop smoking, as some of the media reports have hinted at. It is simply too early to say and the evidence too weak.’
